


A Lucky Mistake

by cherishedwings



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Businessman Levi, Cussing, First Kiss, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Graduate Student Eren Yeager, Hospitals, Humor, Injury, Levi/Eren Yeager-centric, M/M, Minor Violence, Mistaken Identity, Non-Graphic Violence, Robbery, Starbucks, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-19
Updated: 2020-09-02
Packaged: 2021-03-06 00:41:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 11,251
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25984567
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cherishedwings/pseuds/cherishedwings
Summary: What’s the saying? “Shoot first and ask questions later”? Except Levi probably should’ve heard him out before beating the ever living shit out of his sister’s savior behind the counter of a Starbucks.AU in which Levi mistakes Eren for Isabel’s attacker and sends him to the hospital.
Relationships: Furlan Church/Isabel Magnolia, Levi & Eren Yeager, Levi/Eren Yeager, Marco Bott/Jean Kirstein
Comments: 37
Kudos: 415
Collections: Attack on Titan, Attack on Titan/Shingeki no Kyojin, Eren/Levi, Levi and Eren





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fanfiction! Dear lord, it is much harder to write than I thought it would be. Serious kudos to the authors of all the amazing works on this site.

Levi groaned as he looked at the clock. _4:00 P.M_. One more hour before he could leave this god forsaken building and go home to a nice shower and a cup of hot earl grey tea.

He had been re-reading the same section on “Emerging Serbian blockchain partnership opportunities” for the past half hour, not taking in any more meaning with each subsequent skim. Don’t even ask him why he was suddenly pegged as an Eastern European cryptocurrency expert. His job was in marketing, for god’s sake, but unfortunately Erwin ( _Shitwin_ , Levi called him fondly) was out of the office for his honeymoon and Pixis, the lazy ass, just told the interns to redirect all the papers to Levi’s office.

Despite working for a financial technology company, Levi truthfully still had no idea what blockchain was. At this point, he was afraid to ask. Every time the topic came up, he would find an excuse to leave or else tune out the conversation entirely. Hanji had tried to explain it to him a couple (or ten) times, but Levi had given it up as a lost cause when she informed him that Bitcoins weren’t even real coins and that _just one_ of those shitty coins was worth more than his car.

Speak of the devil. He heard Hanji’s signature stomps echoing in the hallway as they ran towards his office, ending in a resounding _CRASH_ as they threw open his door, which he had just wiped down vigorously earlier this morning.

Jesus Christ, now he had to add “scrub Hanji’s obnoxious fingerprints out of the glass” to his to-do list, which only seemed to be growing.

“What do you want, shitty glasses?” Levi didn’t look up as he tried to start at the beginning of the report once again.

“LEVI!” Levi’s head snapped up. Something was wrong. Hanji sounded panicked and they looked frantic, their normal manic smile replaced by a concerning frown and furrowed brows. They grabbed his shoulder, despite knowing that in normal circumstances, such an action was equivalent to a death sentence. “Izzy’s in the hospital, you gotta go!”

He froze. _Hospital?_ Throwing the report down, Levi grabbed his keys and sprinted out of his office without another word, Hanji following him closely behind after snatching his coat and closing the door behind them.

“Which hospital, Hanji?” He yelled as they flew down the stairs towards the parking garage. There was no time to take the elevator. “What happened?”

“I don’t know all the details! They just said she was attacked on the way home and someone called an ambulance and took her to Trost General!”

At the sound of the word _ambulance_ , Levi sped up even more, his heart pounding. He fumbled with his keys as he turned the corner into the garage, flinging open the door of his Camry and turning on the engine. Hanji leapt into the passenger’s seat as Levi slammed on the gas, wheels shrieking as they zipped out the parking lot.

“Tell me what you know,” Levi demanded, as he drove through the city traffic like a madman, ignoring the honks and yells of angry pedestrians and drivers that didn’t take kindly to his completely erratic driving that bypassed all traffic laws known to man.

Hanji, to their credit, looked a lot calmer than most people would under the circumstances, sitting in a vehicle that was going 80mph during rush hour traffic and changing lanes in a manner that was about as safe as jumping off a 5-story building with nothing but a bedsheet as a parachute.

Other than their knuckles going white from clenching onto the grab handle above the window, they seemed otherwise fine, their voice steady as they responded, “Someone from Trost called and told us that Izzy was injured after an attempted mugging. They didn’t tell me anything about the extent of her injuries—it sounds like the doctors are still fixing her up, maybe—but they said she asked for you. So, that’s good right? She was conscious and awake enough to give the nurse your information.”

Levi felt his heart slow down, just a little bit, his panic subsiding marginally. Izzy was alive. Izzy asked for him. Izzy was alive. _Alive_. _Alive. Conscious_. _Breathing_. He repeated those words inside his head like a mantra the rest of the drive, holding onto them like a lifeline to stave off darker, more pessimistic thoughts that threatened to fill in the blanks of the information unknown.

The rest of the drive to the hospital was a blur, and Levi had no memory of parking or anything afterwards until he found himself standing in front of her hospital bed, the chattering and footsteps of other staff and visitors in the hallway only a vague noise in the background.

She looked small. She was always small, but her limitless, vibrant energy, magnified by her sparkling green eyes and bright red hair always made her seem larger than life, exuding a joy that caused even grumpy curmudgeons like Levi unwittingly smile inwardly.

But now, she looked small. Her eyes were closed and her hair was dulled and her whole body seemed to be swallowed up by the sterile white of the room, only her head poking out from underneath the hospital blankets. She had a few small bandages on her face— covering up what seemed like scratches or cuts, Levi couldn’t tell—and some thin white gauze or tape wrapped around her head, underneath her bangs.

Looking down, Levi saw that her left foot propped up and wrapped in a boot, likely due to a break or a sprain. Otherwise, Levi could see no other prominent injuries, and with that, he gave a deep sigh of relief.

“Levi?” Izzy’s eyes fluttered open, her voice sounding like a croak as she trained her gaze on him.

Taking a few steps forward, Levi gently rested his hand on her shoulder to prevent her from trying to sit up. “I’m here.”

Izzy’s hand came up to grasp his, her fingers curling around him, painfully reminding him of all the times he would walk down the street on the way home from school with her like this—hand in hand, as she skipped or jumped or sung or whistled while basking in the world around them with the perfect confidence that Levi’s hand would keep her grounded, keep her safe.

Bile rose in his throat as the guilt started to eat away at him. He failed. He failed to protect her when she needed him, and now she was in the hospital with a broken leg or foot and scratches marring her face and possibly a concussion and likely many more mental and emotional injuries not visible to the eye. Before he could fall into a downward spiral, he elected to focus on the present.

“What happened, Izzy?”

She frowned, her other hand coming up to scratch at her head absently. “I don’t remember everything. Last I recall, I was walking back from class with Furlan, but then he realized he forgot that he had office hours with Professor Hannes or something, so he left.”

She paused, looking at him guiltily. “I was really, _really_ tired because I had class all day and didn’t even have time for lunch soooo I decided to take that shortcut through the park and alleyway.” She stopped again, as though waiting for Levi to reprimand her.

Inwardly, he was screaming at her because _everyone knew that that’s probably the most dangerous road within a two mile radius of the university and how could she be so stupid and—_

Outwardly, his usual expressionless mask remained blank. He nodded for her to go on.

“I thought I was being careful, anyway, but I didn’t notice that some guy was following me until I was already in the alleyway. And…yeah. I tried to run, but then he grabbed me and pushed me down and _—“_ her voice broke off, and for the first time since Levi entered the room she looked like she was about to cry.

Hanji, whose presence Levi had wholly forgotten up until this point, came up and patted Izzy’s other shoulder soothingly. “You’re here now, Izzy, you’re safe.”

Izzy sniffed, extracting her fingers from Levi’s and covering her face with both hands. “Did they catch the guy?”

“The police are outside, I think, and they also wanted to ask you a few questions. Can I invite them in?” Hanji asked. Izzy gave a short nod, and Hanji left to go find the detectives.

Izzy looked up at Levi again. “Are you mad at me?” Her voice was small and timid.

Levi lifted his hand and ruffled her hair, a gesture he reserved only for her. She physically relaxed, beaming up at him as he said, “Tch. Of course not, brat. Just promise me—next time, use your _brain_ and _never_ take that way home again. Not even with Furlan.”

Izzy was already nodding furiously. “I swear, Nii-chan, I’ve definitely learned my lesson already.” She winced, bringing her hand up to her neck, bringing Levi’s attention to the red and purple finger prints he hadn’t noticed before. _Someone choked her?!_ He could feel a fiery anger erupting inside him as he struggled to remain calm.

“Did the doctors tell you anything about your injuries?” Levi asked, his voice shaking only slightly.

“I have a mild head concussion, a fractured ankle, some superficial scratches that’ll heal soon, and uh, some bruising that should go away with time too,” she recited, her voice trailing off as she gestured vaguely to her neck. “They want to keep me overnight to make sure the concussion won’t give me any issues, otherwise I’ll just need crutches for a few weeks and I’ll be good as new!” She flashed Levi a thumbs up and smile.

_Good as new?_ Levi snorted. He couldn’t take his eyes off the finger marks.

“Hey! Could you get me something to drink? Maybe even a frap from the cafeteria?” Izzy asked, grabbing his hands to get his attention, possibly trying to distract him.

“Pleeeaaaase?” She pouted, when he made no move towards the door.

“Fine,” Levi sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose with his fingers. “Try not to hurt yourself even more before I get back.”

He walked out, wondering if the hospital cafeteria also sold tea and if it would taste as shitty as one would expect hospital tea to taste.

——

It turned out that the cafeteria did _not_ sell fraps—g _ood riddance_ , Levi thought, because those monstrous sugar drinks were just diabetes in a cup—but they did have bottled Starbucks and he grabbed two caramel ones—Izzy’s favorite and also Hanji’s guilty pleasure—and decided not to take the chance on the hot tea that the clerk didn’t even know the flavor of.

_Uh, it’s just tea, dude_ , the shitty teenager told him, and Levi had to exercise a great deal of self-restraint to not leap over the counter and duplicate the same marks on Izzy’s neck on this uncultured swine. That would not be smart, and that definitely would land him in prison, which was the last place Levi would want to end up with the hospital bills that were sure to come his way soon. Levi mentally patted himself for acting like the 35-year old adult he was, despite the events of the day.

Miraculously, he found his way back to her room without getting lost, even though all the hallways looked the same and the directional signs hanging from the ceiling hindered more than helped. Inside, he could see that a police officer—a blonde woman with a slight build, a rather proud nose, and an expressionless face—was sitting in a chair next to Izzy’s bed, a small notebook and pen in hand.

He handed a bottle to Hanji, who was sitting inside beside the door, and as they eagerly twisted the cap and gulped down the drink, he leaned against the entrance to avoid interrupting the officer who was speaking.

“—he ran away before we could bring him down to the station, but his name is Eren Jaeger, and he works at the Starbucks down on Rose—“

Levi froze. _Ran off?_ _They didn’t catch the fucker who did this to Isabel?_ The thought of the sadistic bastard just standing around in an air-conditioned Starbucks instead of being locked down in the depths of Hell—or jail, at least—infuriated Levi and he could feel his nails digging into his skin, practically drawing blood with how tightly he clenched his fists.

He knew that the police were inefficient, that by very definition the government had red tape blocking any useful action at every turn, and likely the officer needed some warrant or more backup or some signature from a donut-munching supervisor who was too busy spewing racist bullshit on Facebook to bother with doing actual work before the perpetrator could be brought in but this, this was _outrageous._

But, Levi suddenly realized, this was a blessing in disguise. The police would at most restrain the son-of-a-bitch and keep him in custody. His family would probably post bail—considering the guy supposedly worked at Starbucks, Levi could guess that he at least wasn’t part of some street gang—and they might even get him a fancy lawyer that creates some Brock Turner-esque lies about how he was an upstanding white boy—Levi guessed he was white, given his name—and gets a plea deal so he only has to do community service or some bullshit. There would be no justice.

Levi threw the other bottle at Hanji, who looked startled and opened their mouth, probably to ask Levi _what the heck?_ , but Levi muttered a quick “I’ll be right back” before sprinting out the door. If there would be no justice, then he’ll just have to take justice into his own hands.

_Eren Jaeger, get ready to meet your demise._

—-

Eren groaned as he looked at the time on his phone. _5:30 PM._ His shift didn’t end until 8:30, and his manager Oluo was making him also do lock-up by himself as punishment for coming in late. Very late. As if Eren wasn’t having a bad enough day already.

It wasn’t even his fault. He was on his way—set to be 15 min _early_ , Eren might add proudly—when he heard a scream in a nearby alleyway and rushed to see some bastard attacking a girl, who looked to be a college student, based on the textbooks and backpack strewn on the ground.

He managed to fend off the thug, thanks to a lifetime of experience fighting with Jean and other assholes who got on his nerves at school, though before he could pin him down, he escaped. Eren wanted to run after him, but the girl appeared to be in pain and he couldn’t leave her there alone and vulnerable.

So, he dialed _911_ and waited with her— _Isabel_ , she said her name was—until the ambulance came and took her to the hospital. Though she was mostly conscious, Isabel seemed to be out of it—likely a concussion, based on the symptoms Armin had ingrained into his brain when he was helping him study for his med school exams, and Eren stayed to give the police officer a witness statement.

He gave a pretty thorough description of what the perpetrator was wearing and his appearance, surprising even himself, given that his focus was obviously on other things, such as not getting killed, during his encounter with the thug. But then he checked his phone and saw that _holy shit I’m an hour late for my shift_ and ran off after yelling his name and his workplace in case the police had any other questions.

Eren didn’t generally panic about punctuality, but he had already been tardy 3 times this month and Oluo had told him in no uncertain terms that once that hits 5 he was finished. Not that being a barista at Starbucks was going to be his lifelong career, but Eren really needed the money—grad school wasn’t cheap—and this was the only place that was close and convenient and could give him enough hours despite his weird research schedule.

Plus, he couldn’t live without caffeine and the free coffee—well, free as long as Oluo wasn’t looking (he could see how he wasn’t exactly employee of the year material now, to be honest)—helped reduce his expenses even more.

Which is why he begged and pleaded with Oluo to not let this count as one of his offenses, pointing to his bruised cheek from one of the lucky punches the other dude had gotten in as evidence of his tale. Thankfully, Oluo wasn’t someone to punish such an upstanding citizen—or, more likely, he just really wanted Eren to _let go of him so he could deal with the long line of customers who were getting increasingly angrier by the minute_ _and goddamnit it how long does it take to piss, Jean._

Either way, Eren got off with a warning but no written evidence of this infraction, as long as he did lock-up by himself so that Oluo could get an early night and take his girlfriend Petra—who, Eren might add, was way out of his league—to the movies. Apparently the night already started, because Oluo had slipped out and disappeared.

Luckily, there was a lull in customers following that mad rush around 5 PM after classes let out. Only Jean’s boyfriend Marco—who, Eren might also add, was way out of his league; this seemed to be a common theme amongst the baristas—was in the store, studying diligently in the corner, likely choosing this location for the opportunity to occasionally chat with and smile at his horse-faced co-worker. Seriously, Eren had no idea how an asshole like Jean snagged the nicest guy at their school.

His brief daydream was interrupted when he heard the jingle of the bells that accompanied the door opening. A rather short man—his nice suit indicated that he probably was a businessman—with pale skin and a black undercut walked in purposefully, locking eyes with him.

“Hi, welcome to Starbucks, what can I get you?” Eren asked, with more energy than he would perhaps usually dedicate to the task. Though the man looked pretty scary—his scowl looked borderline murderous for some reason and his eyes were a cold grey—Eren couldn’t deny that his angular features and overall appearance were quite attractive. He might even consider making the first move and giving him his number, depending on how their interaction goes. He hopes it goes well.

“Eren Jaeger?” The man asked, staring at his name tag briefly before gazing up once more to lock eyes with him. He looked tightly wound.

“That’s me!” Eren said brightly, glancing at his name tag out of habit. Oh wait, it only said _Eren :)_ in a nearly illegible scrawl. Eren frowned and snapped his head up.

“Uh, excuse me, do I know—“

He was cut off, literally, by surprisingly strong fingers laced around his throat in a death grip. The man seemingly intent on choking him alive brought his face close to his, until their foreheads were nearly touching. So close that Eren could count the number of eyelashes on the man who, Eren noted through the oxygen-deprived haze of pain, had a terrifying and deranged expression that somehow didn’t take away from his attractiveness.

“Eren Jaeger, prepare to die.”


	2. Chapter 2

Despite being 5’3’’, Levi was strong. Very strong. Having grown up being labelled an easy target due to his height, he took to nearly every sport or activity that would hone his fighting skills, from judo to karate and boxing. He could probably compete professionally if he wanted to dedicate his life to it, but he was a firm believer that these skills should be saved for self-defense purposes only.

Well, most of the time.

When Eren Jaeger had the audacity to _fucking smile sunnily_ at him while his sister was lying in a hospital bed, he snapped. He was going to give back every single hurt that this bastard caused Izzy, tenfold. Starting with his neck.

“Not so fun when it’s the other way around, is it?” Levi hissed, tightening his hold around Eren, causing his eyes to bug out. He was clawing at Levi’s hands, desperately trying to loosen the iron grip, while choking out vague, pained noises.

Levi heard footsteps behind him and, out of the corner of his eye, saw the customer who was previously seated by the window reaching out to grab his shoulder, presumably to get him to stop his current activities. He dodged and kicked him in the stomach, his hands still throttling Eren. The customer shouted in pain as he landed heavily on the ground, and another barista from the back appeared.

“Marco!” The barista with a weird two-toned hairstyle ran forward to help the customer up, either oblivious to or unconcerned with his co-worker’s predicament, as Eren steadily turned redder and redder as he was deprived of oxygen.

With the two distracted, Levi leapt over the counter, shoving Eren down onto the ground with him. He let go of his neck briefly. After all, one cannot truly experience pain if one can no longer breathe.

Eren immediately put his hands around his neck, gasping and coughing violently while blinking tears from his eyes. The moment of relief was brief.

Levi grabbed his hair and slammed his head into the cabinet, then pulled him up until his knees almost touched the ground so that he was in the perfect kicking position. One that Levi planned to take advantage of. Immensely.

_WHAM! CRACK!_ Levi was merciless, aiming everywhere from his face to his stomach and ribs. Eren’s cries and gasps of pain only fueled his efforts, and he flashed his leg forward in another almighty kick to the face that sent Eren flying until he hit the wall and slid down.

Levi ran forward and grabbed his face, fingers squishing his cheeks and tilting him up so that he could see Levi. As well as he could see Levi through a swollen eye and bleeding nose.

“Next time you want to mug someone, remember this pain,” Levi growled, eyes flashing. “You picked the wrong person to attack, you piece of shit. Izzy’s going to get out of the hospital soon, but I’m going to fuck you up so badly you’re going to wish you were in jail.”

Eren’s eyes widened, and he spluttered. “That wasn’t me! I’m the one who—“

Levi slammed his head down on the ground.“I don’t want to hear your fucking excuses you son of a bitch.”

He raised Eren’s head again, but before he could land another punch, two sets of hands were pulling his arms back.

“STOP STOP STOP IT’S NOT HIM IT’S NOT HIM!” The barista with the weird hair shouted, straining as he valiantly tried to simultaneously grab Levi’s arm while hiding his face in his elbows in case Levi wanted to strike him instead.

The customer grabbing his other side jumped in. “Eren’s the one who saved your sister!”

“…what?”

——

Needless to say, their interaction did not go well. Not at all.

Eren groaned in pain as he struggled to sit up, tears pricking the side of his eyes. Everywhere hurt. He felt like he was one big bruise. One big bruise that was thrashed around a meat grinder. And then dragged down a road of gravel.

He could only half-see, as his right eye was swelled shut. The man who had been beating the living shit out of him not a moment ago now looked at him blankly.

“What do you mean?” He snapped.

Marco moved to kneel between him and Eren in a protective stance, his arms hovering around Eren as though wanting to comfort him but fearing that any further touch would worsen his injuries. “Eren told me today that he saw someone trying to mug a girl so he jumped in and saved her. He called the cops and waited with her until an ambulance took her to the hospital. That’s why he was late to work.”

The man froze, staring at Marco. There was a long silence as he seemed to grapple with his thoughts, during which Eren coughed pitifully as his throat attempted to recover. Unfortunately, this caused him to wince as his stomach and face flashed with white, hot pain which further caused him to groan with agony, which further aggravated his throat and he curled into a ball of hurt, his eyes shutting tightly, and—

The world went black.

—-

When he woke up next, he was in a white, sterile room. He could still only see out of one eye, as the other seemed to be completely covered by what he guessed was gauze.

He attempted to turn his head to look around the room, but found that his movement was restricted by—a neck brace?—something hard. That action afflicted another wave of pain through him and he let out a mixture of a whine and squeak of discomfort.

“Eren! You’re awake!” Mikasa’s face came into view as she peered over Eren, her posture sagging with relief when she saw that he was conscious and responsive.

“Wha—what happened?” He rasped, his throat throbbing with the exertion of speaking.

Mikasa’s expression turned stormy. “Some man attacked you when you were working at Starbucks. Jean and Marco said that he mistook you for his sister’s mugger, but that you actually saved her earlier today. Why didn’t you tell me you ran into a robber, Eren?”

Eren blinked a few more times as he took in the information and involuntarily let out a giggle at the ridiculousness of the situation. Which was a mistake, because all of the injuries that he had sustained seemed to come back to him all at once in full force, and he shut his eyes to try and even out his breathing and block out the ache.

“Try not to move, Eren. I’ll get Armin and the doctor to let them know you’re awake.”

—-

Levi screwed up. He was not one to admit his mistakes easily, preferring to bypass such situations, should they appear, with his usual crass humor and intimidating demeanor, but even he knew that there was simply no denying it. He screwed up, big time.

Jesus Christ, how was it possible to screw up this badly. Levi covered his face with both hands as he tapped his foot furiously in the seat next to Izzy’s bed.

“You really screwed the pooch there, Levi,” Hanji said helpfully, breaking the long silence that had enveloped the room following Levi’s terse explanation of the events that happened after he ran out of Izzy’s room. 

“You really did, nii-chan,” Izzy added, her arms crossed with disappointment and annoyance at the predicament her older brother landed in.

“Shit, I _know_ , ok? I fucked up. I fucked up something that was the only non-fucked up thing in this entire situation and—Christ—I—ugh!” Levi slapped his hands against his face a few more times, pressing his palms against his eyes, as though that would relieve him of his guilt.

“Well, there’s really only one thing to do in this situation,” Hanji stated, squatting down until they were eye-level with Levi. Levi grudgingly removed his hands and looked at them.

“What?”

“You’re going to have to march over to the hospital room and apologize. And hope that he doesn’t press charges. I heard that jail isn’t very clean and their tea sucks.”

“Erghhhhh” Levi slammed his face into his palms once more. What he would give to be sitting in the office reading about blockchain instead of stuck in this mess right now.

—-

Everything was fine. More than fine, actually, Eren thought dazedly, as he stared at the ceiling, enamored with the symmetrical lines of the white tiles above him.

“Are you sure he’s ok?” He heard Mikasa ask Armin as he flipped through a stack of charts in the clipboard he was holding.

“Yes, it’s just the pain meds. The doctor gave him a pretty strong dosage. Most of his wounds are superficial, so he should recover fully in a couple of weeks. But it’s going to be tough for him to move around without aggravating his injuries, especially considering his neck and ribs are bruised. So we’ll just have to be careful and help him take it easy.”

“You—you look like a such an _adult_ , Armin,” Eren chortled sleepily, pinching the edge of the white coat signifying his intern status and looking at it with childlike wonder.

“Well, thanks Eren,” Armin looked amused. Before he could say anything more, the sound of someone clearing his throat interrupted them.

The trio all turned towards the door, where Levi stood awkwardly, his usual mask of indifference not giving anything away. Altogether, he looked about the same as he did when he entered the Starbucks, minus the murderous glare and with a considerably more wrinkled suit, which should be unsurprising to anyone aware of the situation. 

“Who are you?” Mikasa demanded, her eyes narrowed at the stranger.

“Ah, shit, here we go again,” Eren grumbled, flapping his hand in front of him as though trying to swat away a fly. “Why are you here?”

“Do you know him, Eren?” Armin asked, gaze flicking between the man and Eren as though trying to connect the dots.

“He’s the hot guy who beat the shit out of me at Starbucks,” Eren sighed, causing everyone else in the room to freeze in their place while he still flapped his hand aimlessly and seemingly missed the implications of the words he was saying. “A reaaaalll jackass if you ask me.”

Armin had to physically pull back on Mikasa’s clothes to restrain her from tackling Levi. “Get out! GET OUT!” Mikasa growled, swiping her nails at him while struggling against Armin’s desperate hold. “How dare you come here after you hurt my brother like this!”

Levi held up his palms towards them, as though surrendering, attempting to placate her anger. “My name is Levi. I’m Isabel’s brother and…I’m here to say thank you. To Eren. For saving and protecting my sister. And to apologize for the…” his eyes traced the white gauze covering most of Eren’s head and face and the neck brace locking him in place “…misunderstanding.”

“Why don’t we let you two talk while we wait outside,” Armin said hastily as Mikasa’s efforts spiked in ferocity at the word _misunderstanding._ Astutely, he likely recognized that leaving Eren alone in the room with his attacker, while risky, was less concerning given that the door was open to a hallway full of hospital staff that could intervene if needed and that the situation overall was a case of mistaken identity. Especially compared to what would happen if he didn’t separate Mikasa from this man _immediately_. He was equally fearful of the potential criminal record Mikasa could incur from an attempted assault and what would happen to his future prospects at the hospital if he managed to let a fight happen under his watch, considering all the favors he had to call in to let him be the one on Eren’s case despite their personal relationship. He quickly pushed Mikasa out the door, blocking her access to Levi with his body arranged firmly between them in the process, and the two disappeared.

The resulting silence was heavy and suffocating, at least for Levi, as he looked warily at Eren from his position leaning against the glass window that reflected into the hallway. Eren, on the other hand, seemed serenely unperturbed as he ceased his hand flopping and instead opted to peer concentratedly out the window, at a spot right next to Levi, as though focused on something. Levi followed his gaze and immediately jumped.

“Holy shit!” He hissed. Mikasa’s murderous face was pressed against the glass right next to him, her dark eyes furious and threatening. Beside her, Armin waved apologetically, and motioned for them to turn around and continue the conversation.

Levi took a few steps to the other side of the room, still at the same distance from Eren. Mikasa’s eyes followed his trajectory, but her glower did not diminish in hate.

Resigned to the fact that this would be the most privacy he would get, Levi decided to just get this over with.

“I fucked up. Majorly. And…I regret not clarifying your position in this…situation…before I acted.” Levi scratched his head, years of avoiding social contact now coming back to bite him in the ass as he struggled to communicate his apologies. “Yeah. I’m…sorry.” He coughed, as though uttering the word caused him discomfort.

Eren’s attention was trained on him now, though Levi could not decipher his expression given that only one eye was visible and it had a slightly glazed quality to it. With a jolt, Levi realized that it was _green_ and the same color as Isabel’s, though Eren’s had more of an ocean-green hue to it.

That moment of comprehension led him to recall other observations he had previously pushed to the back of his consciousness in his urgency to attack. The strands of hair visible underneath the gauze connected to what he remembered was a head of brown locks that framed Eren’s face rather nicely, complementing his golden-tanned skin, bright eyes, and boyish face in an altogether attractive view.

A view that, Levi cringed inwardly, would likely not be available to the public for another few weeks, if not longer. He still wasn’t knowledgeable of the extent of damage he had inflicted and if it would have any permanent effects. The guilt that had simmered in the background now came back in full force, and he shuffled his feet awkwardly, unsure of what to do next.

“Ok.”

Levi jerked his head up. _What?_ He wasn’t sure if he imagined that, but Eren was now looking at him expectantly.

“…Ok?” Levi asked.

“Ok.”

“…”

Levi blinked. “What the fuck is that supposed to mean?” He burst out, causing Eren to flinch back slightly. “Ok? What do you mean ok? It’s not ok! You—“ Levi gestured at Eren “you fucking _saved_ my sister, putting your own life at risk in the process—they told me he had a knife, apparently—and I thanked you by _beating the ever living shit out of you_ at a fucking _Starbucks,_ of all places, and now you’re, you’re—“ he gesticulated wildly at the bandages and gauze and the fact that he was in a hospital room, trying to convey his incredulity at the idiotic brat who was just, just lying calmly— _calmly_ —there _._

Eren blinked at him.

“This—is—not—ok!” Levi insisted once more, clapping his hands together at every word to emphasize his point further.

Eren opened his mouth, then closed it as though he thought better of it, probably because his natural response to _that_ statement was also “ok” but apparently that was _not_ the right thing to say in that moment.

“Uh, yeah.” At the sight of Levi’s raised eyebrows, Eren continued, “this is altogether a pretty shitty situation, if you ask me. I mean, I’d prefer not to be in the hospital right now—I’d also prefer to be uninjured too, while we’re on that topic, because everything hurt like a _motherfucker_ until the doc gave me the meds. But—“ Eren shrugged, or imitated his closest version of a shrug given the restraints of the neck brace “the important thing is that—that—nothing irreversible was done. Nobody was killed—not Isabel, not me—and, I mean I’m pretty banged up right now but the doctor says I should heal up in a few weeks and—I’ve been worse off before so—it’s…ok?”

Eren offered a weak smile, which turned into a deer-in-the-headlights look when Levi’s frown seemed to deepen, after which he immediately followed up with, “no, not ok. It’s not…ok?”

Levi was speechless. _Nothing irreversible was done?_ What the fuck is wrong with this shitty brat? Is he—is he crazy? A few crayons short of the Crayola box? Just a plain suicidal maniac who didn’t consider his own bodily health to be of great—or any—importance?

Instead of verbalizing these questions, which even Levi, despite being socially inept, knew to be considered rather rude inquiries, Levi opted for a different approach. “It’s not ok, but…fine. I’ll…pay for your hospital bills. And any earnings you would’ve made had you continued working at Starbucks while you’re healing. And any…therapy you might need.” Before Eren could interrupt, Levi drew out his business card and handed it to him.

Eren’s eyes widened when he read the business card. “Holy shit! You work at Survey Corporation?”

Levi nodded, unsure of where he was going with this. Survey Corporation was a “unicorn” company, or whatever the phrase that Pixis forced him to include in every single ad material his team produced— _why not just stamp a fucking unicorn onto the fucking building and tattoo it to your ass while you’re at it?_ Levi wanted to ask, but thankfully had the sense not to, because he liked having his cushy job with a generous source of income—but most of the people Levi encountered didn’t particularly react to the company name when the topic came up.

Then again, the only people Levi interacted with outside the company and company-affiliated individuals were…Izzy. And his doctor and barber. And the Asian grandma who owned that little cleaning supply shop Levi considered his personal haven, but she didn’t speak a word of English. Jesus Christ, his life was pretty sad.

“Wow, my graduate thesis is actually about the impact of financial technology innovation in expanding access to capital for post-communist states. Do you by chance work on any of the cryptocurrency or blockchain portfolio projects at Survey Corps?”

_You’ve got to be fucking kidding me._ Levi groaned.


	3. Chapter 3

All in all, Eren really deserved a gold medal for how handled this whole situation. Scratch that, he should get a goddamn Nobel peace prize.

He surprised everyone, most of all himself, when he explained that Levi would offer financial compensation and they would all just move on with their lives. Mikasa, as expected, was ready to stab Levi even with nothing other than the flimsy plastic forks in the cafeteria at her disposal for all the harm that he caused Eren, but thankfully Armin managed to talk her down, and she settled for taking charge of tracking the expenses and ensuring that the midget paid for _every penny_ and rallying their friends to help take care of Eren’s errands while he was stuck at the hospital.

Jean and Marco offered to drop by his professors’ offices to explain the situation and get him an extension on any labs and assignments that he had coming up. Thankfully, Marco only suffered a slight bruise on his hip from Levi’s strike, but Eren was still salty about how Jean didn’t notice (or didn’t care) that Eren was _fucking choking to death while being held up in the air by a madman_ and instead opted to check on Marco, who really just fell on the ground, albeit roughly. Until Jean properly apologized for how useless he was at the scene of the crime, he would be on Eren’s blacklist.

Sasha declared that he deserved only the best desserts for his valiant efforts today and ran off to _Titan Bakery_ with Connie to get him some sweets. Eren could barely talk as it is, let alone consume a fragile pastry, but he didn’t want to crush Sasha’s joy at the chance to visit her favorite store.

He really should be a lot angrier than he is. Indeed, once the pain meds wore off, he became significantly crankier and pissed off at his bad luck. 

He had a lot of time to reflect while laying there in the hospital bed, unable to move that much. Bruised ribs _and_ a bruised neck already made every action hurt like a bitch, but adding on a swollen and pufferfish-esque face basically rendered Eren basically immobile, which he _hated._ He was normally always fidgeting, even when sitting down and trying to read a book or scrolling through Facebook on his phone. Being forced to emulate a statue was driving him crazy.

Despite all this, Eren’s sincerity towards letting bygones be bygones—mostly—didn’t go away. Considering his own close bond with Mikasa—aside from their frequent clashes over her tendency to micromanage his life and his affinity for getting into trouble—he got it, he really did. If someone had tried to attack Mikasa—though such a scenario was more likely to end in death by castration for the perpetrator, but _hypothetically_ —Eren wouldn’t hesitate to track down the bastard and feed him back his own pain. He had gotten into trouble countless times because of his tendency to act first, think later, so he knew the feeling of royally screwing up despite having good intentions. Therefore, he could imagine himself making the same mistake Levi had and being in his shoes, however small (he really was a short dude) they were.

Although, Eren privately believed that _he_ would have enough sense to know that _if the police really knew the identity and location of the perpetrator within the hour, then any human being with a brain could figure out that they were already in police custody, and if Levi had just waited a few more seconds he probably would’ve heard Isabel or the police officer exclaim, “Ah, yes, Eren Jaeger, the civilian hero who saved the day and who is a modern day Superman. Somebody give that man a medal. ”_

Eren always had a flair for the dramatics. If this whole Master’s in Financial Engineering gig doesn’t work out, he could probably make it as a scriptwriter in Hollywood.

Probably.

—-

“FOUND HIM!” Hanji exclaimed gleefully, waving their phone in the air like a prize they won at the carnival.

“Congratulations,” Levi said flatly, casting an unamused look at them before turning back to his laptop screen, frowning over the email that he was drafting.

“Oh shit, he’s _gorgeous_ ,” Hanji stage-whispered, eyes bugging out as they leaned even closer to their iPhone, nearly bumping into the surface with the edge of their glasses.

Levi exhaled loudly. After learning about the conversation and the consequent agreement that he and Eren made regarding the whole _sorry-I-put-you-in-the-hospital-thanks-for-not-calling-the-cops_ ordeal, Hanji somehow arrived at the conclusion that the logical next step was to stalk the poor boy on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Linkedin—even fucking _TikTok_ , whatever the hell that was—to see just who this stupidly forgiving individual was.

Their first reaction, naturally, was to seek him out in person but Levi managed to wrangle them back through angrily spewed threats, though Levi suspected what really tipped the scales in his favor was Izzy’s shrewd remark that Eren was likely asleep and, being bandaged up and unconscious, his current state wouldn’t allow Hanji to fully appreciate his “full hotness”.

How—and why—Izzy checked out the guy during their brief and chaotic encounter was beyond Levi, especially considering she and Furlan were high school sweethearts and practically inseparable, but before he could pursue the thought any further, a phone was shoved in front of his face, nearly toppling the laptop out of his grasp.

“I swear to God, Hanji,” Levi scowled, though he couldn’t help but look at the picture that Hanji wiggled in front of him.

_Oh, shit._ It was Eren, looking seemingly lost in thought as he gazed up beyond the camera from his position lying in a pile of red and yellow leaves, a small smile quirked on his face, expression one of tranquil peace, a soft beanie covering most of his hair. The angle of the autumn sunlight brought out a golden shimmer in his ocean-green eyes, a color that Levi felt words would not bring justice. Seriously. His face had a ethereal, youthful glow, and all in all, it felt like the picture deserved to be on the front cover of a magazine.

Hanji interpreted his silence correctly, and before Levi could do anything to cover up his lapse, they snatched the phone away and said solemnly, “Levi, you better shoot your shot while he’s out of commission, otherwise there’s no way in hell you stand a chance.” They patted him gently on the shoulder before Levi violently shrugged them off. Izzy was already deep in sleep in her bed, mouth slightly open as she snoozed, so thankfully he only had to deal with one source of harassment on this topic.

Privately, Levi agreed with Hanji’s analysis, though he highly doubted he stood a chance anyways considering how much damage he had already done. But, there was still hope, Levi realized with a jolt as he recalled how Eren had introduced him during his piss-poor attempt at an apology— _“He’s the hot guy who beat the shit out of me at Starbucks_ ,” Eren had said. _Hot._ So the attraction must be mutual, though Levi supposed that Eren was too hopped up on drugs to realize his slip.

_Shit, what’s wrong with me,_ Levi cursed inwardly. Eren had to be at least ten years younger than him, most likely more. He probably also wouldn’t want to come near Levi with a five-foot pole after everything that happened today. How fucked up would someone have to be to agree to date someone who was ready to kill him not a few hours earlier?

With a sigh, Levi returned to his work on the computer. _That’s enough crazy for today,_ he scolded silently.

—-

The doctors declared that he would need to stay until the end of the week, which felt like an eternity to Eren. Though the hospital staff were kind and Armin and Mikasa made sure his every need was attended to, being unable to move while trapped in a thin and hard bed surrounded by the constant smell of disinfectant was awful.

He really should be catching up on all the assignments he missed, Eren thought to himself as he tried—and failed—to settle comfortably in the cot. Instead, he absentmindedly began to scroll through his phone again. During one of his many periods of boredom, Eren had looked up Levi out of curiosity and it became a habit to mindlessly swipe through his photos—of which there were very few—while his thoughts wandered.

Levi was certainly older—the company page indicated that he was the Chief of Marketing, and his Linkedin said that he graduated from Trost University about ten years before Eren. His Facebook and Instagram were basically empty, save for a few photos that Isabel and another person named Hanji had tagged him in. In all of those, he looked perpetually bored and stand-offish, though upon close and detailed study Eren found that he could discern what hinted at the beginnings of a smile in the ones where he was standing next to his sister, presumably the only person he saved such emotions for.

He hadn’t seen Levi since that encounter earlier in his hospital room—Isabel was released the next day with a set of crutches, which brightened up his mood, knowing that all in all, the shit he endured was worth it and she was going to be ok soon. On the way out, she had stopped by with the person Eren later identified as Hanji to profusely thank him and apologize on behalf of her brother, which Eren waved off, and Hanji gave him a firm squish of the cheeks while breathing heavily and giggling madly, which Eren thought was exceptionally odd but made no comment about. Hanji said that Levi went to drive the car up to the entrance to reduce the trek Isabel needed to take, and that he would be in touch about the bills and anything else Eren needed.

And, true to his word, Levi was quick and thorough about following up on his promise. The nurse informed him that his next appointments had all been pre-paid and handed him a huge envelope with the all the medication he would need that Levi had apparently purchased and tasked the nurse with passing on, saving him a trip to the pharmacy. When he woke up earlier today, he found a gift basket next to his door with a bunch of useful items, such as a fancy neck relief pillow, a set of calming herbal teas, heat pads and ice packs, a walking stick, and even a trash picker, which Eren assumed was so he could grab items without having to bend down.

The level of detail that gone into assembling such a kit touched Eren, even more so when he discovered the $200 DoorDash gift card Levi had included, which would allow him to splurge on his favorite Chinese noodles, milk tea, Chicken shawarma, and pollo asado tacos without feeling guilty, with the added bonus that they would be all delivered right to his front door.

Eren received the biggest shock now, however, as he logged into his bank account on a whim. His eyes bugged and he fell into a coughing fit when he saw the amount pop up on the screen. That _definitely_ was way more than what his shitty, barely-above-minimum-wage, Starbucks income was. He could understand rounding up from whatever approximation Mikasa had sent, but this—this was way too much. About $3000 too much, actually. He rifled through his bag and found the business card Levi had handed him in their last interaction and dialed the personal number written on the back.

Levi answered after a few rings. “Who is this?” He asked, voice just as sharp as Eren remembered.

“It’s Eren,” he replied. There was a short silence before Eren pressed on, “I just wanted to call and say thank you for the gift basket and the medicine. I really appreciate all the stuff you picked.”

“…No problem.” Levi sounded like he wasn’t sure what else to say.

Eren cleared his throat, a little more uncertain about how to go about breaching the topic that was the purpose behind his call. “Anyways, uh, I also needed to—uh, there seems to be a mistake. With the…bank transfer—the money. You gave me way too much, like…$3000 too much. So, yeah, if you could just give me your information so I can wire it back—“

“No,” Levi interrupted.

Eren furrowed his eyebrows, pausing. “Oh, right!” He exclaimed, a sudden spark of understanding enlightening him. “Right, uh, you probably want to see the calculations—I was just guesstimating, I was going to figure out the exact amount after finding my previous shift schedules and stuff, I think Mikasa just had a rough idea, but anyways—“

“No,” Levi said, more insistently this time. Eren heard him sigh. “Just take it, ok. Don’t worry about it. I make more than enough, I’m sure you’ll find some use for it.”

Eren blanched. “N-no,” he stammered, a bit at a loss, “you already paid for the hospital stay and the medicine and you also got me all that fancy stuff in the basket _and_ the Doordash credits, which you didn’t have to do.” He broke off, and started again, more firmly. “Seriously, it’s too much.”

“Hmph,” Levi sounded contemplative. “Think of it as bail then. Bail would normally cost $10,000 or more for assault, which apparently you’re not charging me with, and that doesn’t include how much a lawyer would cost, so you’re already giving me a big discount.”

Unlike Levi, Eren really had no idea how the criminal justice system worked and only vaguely understood the concept of bail, so he truthfully had no frame of reference to verify the numbers Levi gave. Before Eren could interrupt, however, Levi pushed on, “Look, take it, spend it, or donate it, I don’t give a shit. It’s yours. If you give it back I’m just going to mail it to you in cash, and that just means an extra trip to the bank for the both of us.”

“Seriously,” Levi said, when Eren was quiet.

_“_ Uh…ok.” Eren finally said after a few seconds. He scratched his head awkwardly before muttering, “Thanks.”

“No problem, brat. Consider us somewhat closer to even.”

Eren laughed, the tension that had been in his shoulders dissipating. “Even. We’re definitely even now, Levi.”

“If you say so,” Levi said, before he hung up with a quick “get well soon.”

Eren heard the _click_ that indicated their call was over before bringing his phone down from his ear. He stared at the screen, feeling strangely warm and content.

—-

 _One more day_ , Eren chanted internally. _One more day, one more day, one more day._ One more day before he could finally get out of this god forsaken hospital. For such a large facility, there really was nothing to do. He had already explored all the vending machines and tried out some of the less commonly seen chips and candies. He had toured the bunks and labs that the interns used every day, courtesy of Armin. He had tried racing another patient in his wheelchair, but was quickly admonished and stopped by his doctor, who then took him back to his room with strict instructions to not step a foot out.

Eren knew that once he got back home and had to play catchup on the pile of homework that was growing at an ominous rate he would miss this period of pseudo-vacation, but Eren was never one to plan too far into the future and much preferred living in the moment. And at the moment, Eren was bored, and therefore he tried to rack his mind to think of something to do to entertain himself.

Satisfied that he was healing properly and would be back home soon, Mikasa and Armin had left to go take care of their own responsibilities, so he no longer had someone by his side all day. His other friends had popped in and visited, often bringing some treat or drink, but their stays were short and the novelty of his situation could only be discussed for so long before the topic became boring.

He hadn’t heard from Levi since their phone call, not that Eren really expected the man to contact him. Izzy was already out of the hospital, and being the Chief Marketing Officer of a company like Survey Corps certainly didn’t afford much time off. Still, Eren couldn’t help but perk up every time he heard footsteps coming towards his door, half hoping that it was the short grumpy pants deciding to come say hi.

He knew he was being silly. After all, it was Eren himself who told Levi that they were definitely even now, and Levi struck Eren as the sort of person who settled all his affairs neatly and efficiently, tidying up and moving on to the next thing without dilly-dallying. Not that Eren could really confirm his suspicions, given that his encounters with the man were so limited, but the seemingly endless free time that Eren had being cooped up in his room allowed him to analyze every memory in great detail. And perhaps he was viewing all his memories through a rose-tinted filter, because after much consideration, Eren decided that he would very much like to get to know Levi better, preferably on a date-like situation rather than their previous hey-look-this-is-what-my-foot-feels-like-against-your-stomach interaction.

Eren sighed. He had his number, sure, but there wasn’t really any opportunity for him to try and awkwardly ask him out. Plus, Levi had the upper hand after hearing Eren’s drug-induced-verbal-diarrhea when he referred to the man as “hot”, and he didn’t make a move, so Eren couldn’t be sure if he would even be interested in him. Or actually, if he was even interested in men, which was kind of important information. As thick-skinned as he was—Eren wasn’t embarrassed easily—he didn’t want to waste his time barking up the wrong tree.

His train of thought was broken when he heard a set of footsteps nearing his door. Sitting up slightly—the goddamn neck brace was still a pain to move in, but at least the doctor promised he would take it off tomorrow—Eren brushed his hospital gown, making himself a little more presentable in case it was a visitor. More likely than not, it was either Armin coming to take his break here or the nurse ensuring he was staying put and not wreaking more havoc elsewhere in the building.

The door opened and closed quickly, and Eren looked up to see an unfamiliar man. He was thickset and heavily built, mouth covered by a beard and face rather wrinkly and bumpy. He was wearing regular clothes considering the weather—a dark gray woolen coat and blue jeans—so he clearly wasn’t hospital staff or a patient.

“Oh, I think you have the wrong room,” Eren said, tilting his head slightly towards the man.

The man—who up until this point had been peering out the small window in the door—turned around and looked at him before walking closer to his bed.

That was odd, Eren thought as the man inched towards him. His initial guess was that this stranger was just wandering and perhaps was curious about his neck brace, which he was currently looking at. There were a lot of rather weird characters in the hospital, even outside the patients, but the look in this man’s eyes wasn’t dazed or dumb, but rather sharp and predatory.

“Eren Jaeger?” The man asked, staring straight at Eren now.

“Yeah, that’s me,” Eren said, slightly confused as he looked down at his gown, wondering if he had a name tag that he had forgotten. There was none, and as he looked up, he felt a distinct sense of deja vu.

All of a sudden, the man grabbed him by the neck brace and lifted him slightly off the bed, fingers squeezing until they turned white.

“Prepare to die,” he hissed.

_Oh, you’ve got to be FUCKING kidding me,_ Eren thought distantly as he was thrown off the cot and onto the ground.

—-

Levi tapped his foot nervously as he waited for the elevator in the parking lot of the hospital. He heard that the brat was getting discharged tomorrow, which meant his injuries had recovered enough for him to go home, so he wasn’t really sure why he was here.

Oh, right. How could he forget. A certain devil incarnate named Hanji wouldn’t stop harassing him at work about how heartless he was to not even visit Eren in the hospital, and how this was his last shot to ask him out, and how he hadn’t gotten laid in over a year—

How Hanji even _knew_ that was beyond him, and it bothered him that it wasn’t even surprising that Hanji had the most up-to-date information about his love life. Why was he friends with Hanji again?

There was a _ding_ and the elevator opened. Levi stepped in and pressed the button for Eren’s floor, thanking whatever entity existed upstairs silently that nobody else was in there. He hated most, if not all, forms of social interaction, including the awkward nod of acknowledgement people sometimes exchanged when they got on the same elevator. Usually his impassive glare was enough to deter people from initiating any failed attempt at a hi, but you never know.

Hm, maybe Levi was starting to see why his love life wasn’t exactly so successful. Goddamn it. Whatever, he was perfectly fine with growing old alone and dying a lonely bachelor. Perfectly fine.

As the elevator continued its trek upwards, Levi wondered what he would even say to Eren. Yeah, coming to visit him wasn’t too weird, but what was he supposed to say after? How long should he stay? He didn’t have many topics prepared, other than the Survey Corps flyer in his pocket that he hoped he wouldn’t have to resort to too early.

_Fuck._ Levi realized he probably should’ve brought something with him. Didn’t most people bring flowers or something when they visited someone at the hospital? Oh wait, that’s for family members or people in relationships or some shit. Still, maybe he should’ve brought a drink or box of chocolates. But he already used up all his creative energy on assembling that gift basket.

The _ding_ signaled his doom as he exited and wandered towards Eren’s room. He still remembered the way from his last visit, surprisingly, and soon he found himself standing in front of the door. It was closed, and Levi wondered briefly if he should knock before entering, or if he should turn tail and just go back home altogether. It was only 5:30 PM, so he shouldn’t be asleep, but maybe he was taking a power nap.

Levi leaned over to the window—no, not the one on the door, because he was too short to see it and he was _not_ going to dignify that observation by standing up on his tippy toes—and though the blinds covered the view, he saw the glow on the edges that signified that the lights were on inside, so Eren was probably awake.

Still, Levi raised his fist hesitantly over the wooden door. Common courtesy indicated that he should probably still knock, right?

Before Levi could think any further, he heard a loud _thump_ from inside the room and what sounded like a muffled shout.

Levi threw open the door and he recoiled in shock at the sight he saw.

There was a man—a huge ass man—sitting on top of Eren, who was pressed against the floor on his back, and he raised his arm, fingers clenched in a fist as though to strike down. From the angle of Eren’s face and the marks visible even from Levi’s position by the door, it looks like he already did, several times.

“Get the fuck off of him!” Levi shouted, hoping to draw the man’s attention away. It worked. The burly stranger scowled as he turned around and leapt towards Levi to silence him.

_Self-defense_ , Levi thought internally. Finally, a chance to actually apply his skills in an appropriate way.

A roundhouse kick to the head later, and the man was knocked out against the wall, blood pouring from his nose and mouth.

Levi lifted his foot and brushed the bottom in disgust before walking over to help Eren, who was gaping at him in shock, up and over to the bed. “You ok, brat?”

“Never better,” Eren wheezed, before collapsing on the cot and coughing.

Levi rubbed his back gently. _Well, at least now we have something to talk about._

—-

Thankfully, the doctor declared that Eren would still be able to leave tomorrow, albeit with a few more bandages on the face than previously expected. Eren’s attacker had been taken into custody by the police—apparently he was a friend of the person who mugged Izzy and wanted revenge against Eren for putting his buddy in prison. Levi thoroughly regretted not beating him more harshly before handing him over.

At least he came in time before Eren was too badly hurt. Apparently the bastard had a knife and was really planning on seriously injuring Eren. Levi didn’t want to ponder too much on what would’ve happened if he really did decide to turn tail and go back home.

“We’re not even anymore,” Eren said, startling Levi out of his thoughts.

Levi knit his eyebrows in confusion. “What?”

“We’re not even anymore,” Eren repeated, looking concentratedly at Levi. “We were even before, after you gave me the basket and stuff, but then you saved my life. So, now I owe you.”

“Are you serious, brat?” Levi scoffed. “We were never even. One, you saved Izzy. Two, I beat the shit out of you, which landed you here, and that led to three, you almost getting the shit beat out of you _again_.”

Eren pondered this for a moment, his thumb stroking his chin. His mouth quirked up in a smile. “Ah, you’re right. I guess when you put it like that, now you owe me!” He grinned cheekily.

Levi strode over and slapped his head lightly. “You’re a shitty brat, you know.”

Eren shrugged. “I’ve been told.” He didn’t look too bothered. In fact, he looked like he had been told Christmas came early.

“What do you want then?” Levi sighed.

Eren sucked in a breath, before declaring boldly, “I want a date.”

“That—“ Levi’s eyes widened, and he snapped his head to look at Eren. “What?”

“A date. You know, two people together, probably getting dinner or watching a movie or something. You heard of it?”

“I—of course I have! What the—you want a date with me?” Levi looked at Eren as though he were a foreign species.

Eren scratched his head sheepishly. “Ah, I guess I should’ve specified. I did say ‘I want a date’, which could’ve meant I want you to get me a date with someone else if you really pick apart the words. But I thought I was being pretty clear and you seem like a smart guy—“

“Shut up,” Levi interrupted him. “Shut it, right now.”

Eren did just that and looked at him expectantly.

Levi rubbed his fingers against his eyes. He still couldn’t believe everything that transpired over the past half hour—hell, over the past week, to be honest—but here he was. Getting asked out by this shitty brat who had these goddamn gorgeous eyes and the brightest smile he had ever seen.

“Yeah.” Eren beamed up at him. “Dinner, or something. After you get out of the hospital. My treat.”

“Nuh uh, I’m the one asking so I should be treating you,” Eren argued, but his shit-eating grin told him that he wouldn’t mind either way.

“You can treat me to the next one,” Levi replied, before realizing the implications of what he said. “I mean—“

“You’re already planning for the next one? There’s going to be another one?” Eren’s eyes sparkled.

“Depends if you’re going to be this shitty of a brat at dinner. I might change my mind.”

“Nah, you won’t change your mind. I’m a pretty good date, you know.”

Levi sighed. “How did I get stuck with you?”

Eren cocked his eyebrow at him. “You really need me to repeat the sequence of events that led to us here today? You made a _mistake_ and thought that I—“

“Ok, ok, ok,” Levi held up his hands. “I made a mistake.”

Eren grabbed his hands and pulled him close, causing Levi to stumble onto the bed as he lost his balance. He drew him in for a short, but sweet kiss that made Levi feel like he was melting, before letting go and leaning his forehead against his.

Levi’s eyes were ridiculously wide as he gazed into Eren’s eyes— _those goddamn gorgeous eyes—_ his mouth open slightly in shock, his cheeks flushed.

“A lucky mistake,” Eren said softly, his mouth quirked up in a content and happy smile.

“A lucky mistake,” Levi agreed, before crashing their lips together again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welp, I can't believe I finally finished my first fanfiction! Hope everyone enjoyed :)


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